A Starfleet Baby
by LokiDoki221
Summary: Mostly one-shots into the lives of Kirk, Spock and their Starfleet sprog. (Established Kirk/Spock, mostly fluff, regular updates, T because I'm new to this and paranoid. First few chapters should probably be read in order, but then mix it up how you like.) Chapter 4: The baby needs a name, and Scotty gives away a wee secret...
1. Trouble Sleeping

**A.N.- This is my first Star Trek fic, I hope you like it, and that if you do you could maybe favourite or review for me, it would be very much appreciated. I don't own Star Trek or any of the characters. Yet.**

**- J.M.H -**

* * *

Captain James Tiberius Kirk lay in bed with his eyes wide open, one arm wrapped protectively around the sleeping body curled into his side. He blamed Dr McCoy for his inability to sleep. When they had bunked together at the academy it had taken him just short of four months to pick up the other's insomnia. He never considered that it could have been caused by his own stresses or the sheer amount of caffeine he was ingesting each day: it was easier to blame the doctor. Either way, years down the line, the habit still stuck.

He felt the body beside him stir, and the bicep tense underneath his palm. Instinctively he began to whisper little noises of comfort, and brought his left hand to meet his right where it already lay around his partner, holding him tighter. They made quite a pair, Jim considered, him with his insomnia and Spock with his nightmares. Spock never spoke about the exact nature of his dreams, but Jim wasn't as thick as some people would have liked to think. He knew memories of the destruction of Vulcan and the deaths of those he cared about still haunted his partner. He knew something pursued him in the dreams, although the exact nature of whatever it was Spock kept to himself.

After almost five minutes of soothing, Jim felt a sweat begin to break on the Vulcan and noticed the distinct green that was flooding his skin. He could hear frantic muttering, and it was quiet and broken but painful, and made of words he could only half-recognise. He sighed, and made the always difficult decision to wake Spock. He squeezed his arm gently, and cleared his throat.

'Spock,' he said. He had learnt that the more even he kept his voice, the more relaxed the Vulcan would be when he came round. The night terrors didn't panic Jim anymore, like they had in the early days. 'Spock.'

He felt the body at his side roll over and break away from him. He looked down at Spock, blinking sleep from his eyes, and smiled.

'You're alright, Spock,' he said.

'I know,' came the reply. 'I know.'

That was as close as Spock ever came to saying thank you, and Jim didn't mind: he knew Spock saw the dreams and his reaction to them as a weakness. He pushed himself up on one elbow, and leant over to kiss Spock's forehead.

'Want to talk about it?'

The usual offer.

'No, thank you.'

The usual answer.

Jim shrugged, pretended that he wasn't just a little hurt by Spock's refusal to confide in him, and lay back against his pillows, still slightly upright. He stared at the ceiling. He felt Spock roll over onto his side and settle down again. He waited, but the sound of sleep's steady breathing didn't come. He turned his head, a little confused. Spock always fell asleep easily, even after the dreams. Something to do with meditation, Jim knew. Spock had tried to teach him to meditate before. It hadn't worked. He couldn't sit still long enough. Now, Spock lay on his side, facing away from him, curled up with his legs towards his chin. Jim rolled over, and shuffled towards him. He reached around the Vulcan's still tense shoulders, and rolled him over. Spock looked up at him, face black of any readable emotion.

'Can we talk about something?' Jim asked.

'If you would like that,' Spock replied. 'Mr Scott told me about a new initiative he's working on in engineering, it sounded most interesting, would you like me to tell you about it?'

Jim sighed inwardly. 'That's not really what I meant, Spock.'

'Oh?'

'No. I wanted to ask you something in particular.'

'Of course, Jim.'

He took a deep breath. He could feel his heart pounding. He rolled onto his back again, gaze focused on the ceiling, too nervous to look Spock in the eye, finally ready to reveal the secret he had been holding for nearly three months now.

'Spock, I... I want... I want a child with you. I want to raise a child with you. I want to wake up in the morning and for there to be three of us. In fact, I want to wake up in the middle of the night to have to comfort a screaming pointy-eared brat. I want a tiny Starfleet baby built of me and you. I want to be the father of your child, and to teach him about space and Earth and how to deal with Vulcans. I want him to sit on my lap on the bridge and pretend he's the captain, and to be able to run to you to hold him and to teach him everything you know about me and you and us and just about how to live. I want _all _of that, and everything else that would come with it.' His breath was shaky when he inhaled, his heart fluttering. 'What do you think?'

There was an unbearably long pause. Jim shifted awkwardly in the bed and spun round towards his partner, an unexplainable fear rising in his throat.

'Him?' Spock said, meeting the captain's intense gaze.

'Or her,' he said, with a shrug, trying and failing to hold back the widest of grins.

'There would be... complications,' Spock said.

Jim's face fell. 'What?'

'Well, to begin with we would need a female to bear the child. We would have to establish if she were to be Terran or Vulcan, or even something else, and which of us would, in the most physical sense, father an infant. Then-'

'Spock,' Jim interrupted, 'are you agreeing with me?'

'Could you clarify the proposal?'

'For God's sake, Spock, forgetting the logistics, I'm asking, do you want a kid with me... or not?'

'Logistics notwithstanding, Captain, yes, I believe I do.'

Jim couldn't hold himself back, and launched himself at Spock, planting a firm kiss on his forehead, and laughing as the green blush rose across his face.

'I love you _so much_,' he said firmly, and, although he still couldn't sleep, he was happy, and it took him almost an hour to register the ache that had rapidly spread across his face, induced by the constant involuntary smiling.

When he eventually fell asleep, it was with the brightest thoughts he had had in a long time pulsing though his head, and he dreamt of things he later couldn't remember, but which left him with a tingling sensation of warmth in his stomach.

* * *

_Thanks for reading! :)_


	2. Pillow Talk

**A.N.- Here's Chapter 2: I promise the baby will turn up soon. I have a gender and almost a name and everything, so no worries. Thank you to everyone who's followed, reviewed, etc., I really appreciate it. I am still yet to purchase Star Trek: none of it's mine. (Excuse me whilst I disappear to cry in a corner.)**

**- J.M.H. -**

* * *

The room was dim, lit only by Jim's table lamp. Their duty shifts both began in just over an hour and Jim had woken early, ravenous for the love of his partner. He woke Spock without any guilt, fuelled that morning by pure lust. The craving satisfied, he lay entangled and sweaty in the sheets of their bed.

'Jim.'

The rise and fall of Spock's chest was still more rapid than usual, his voice still a little breathy, and his body naked under the sheets.

'Yeah?' he panted.

'I wanted to say thank you,' he whispered, turning to meet his partner's gaze.

'For this? This was all you, you pointy-eared bastard,' Jim grinned. 'I shouldn't be surprised anymore, but hell you can _move_.' He followed down the line of the sheet covering his partner with his fingertips, and squeezed where he reached his crotch.

'It's a Vulcan thing,' Spock replied shyly, a dark blush quickly becoming tangible around his ears as he used the phrase he had so often heard Jim utter. 'But, that is not what I meant.'

'No? Then what?'

'Jim... I'm so grateful to you, for everything you've given me. You've taught me to follow emotion along with logic, and you've given me a place to call home. I don't feel torn anymore. I was lost, once, Jim. You gave me safety, and you gave me love, two things I did not know I needed.'

Jim furrowed his brow, touched but confused. 'Why are you telling me this now? What's wrong?'

'Nothing is wrong,' Spock promised him. 'It is just that the birth of our child should occur before the next week is out, and it will change my life in ways I never thought possible, and that's only because of you. Without you, I struggle to think what I would be doing now, how I would be living. I love you Jim. Lieutenant Uhura once told me that a loving heart is the beginning of all knowledge, and nothing matters to my people more than knowledge. Through loving you I have learnt so much that would otherwise have remained a mystery to me. I hold information that I'm sure my people never have, and I owe that to you. You chose to love a Vulcan, and with that you took me to places I was not supposed to go to, and showed me things I would never otherwise have seen. I owe you so much, Jim, and, although I am almost sure that I shouldn't, I still fear the prospect of you disappearing, and me becoming alone again. To live alone is painful Jim, and the fear of it comes because I do not think I can show you how much I really care.'

'Spock,' Jim said, and his cheeks were wet with tears that, until then, Spock hadn't noticed. 'Spock, love makes you vulnerable. It gives people power over you, because they can absolutely tear you apart if you dare to care about them so deeply.' Jim swallowed to save his voice from cracking anymore. 'Loving you the way I do, if I thought you didn't care about me then I would be in pieces. The kind of pain even the dumbest Vulcan couldn't miss. I know you care. You hear me? _I know_.'

'Thank you, Jim.'

'Quit thanking me.' Jim wiped what remained of his tears away from his face with the back of his hand and sniffed. 'We're going to have a baby soon. I wouldn't have asked for that if I didn't know you cared.'

Spock was silent, and Jim found his hand under the bed sheets. He stroked his fingers tenderly.

'Our shifts start in under an hour, Jim.' Spock tried to pull his hand away, refusing to give in to his partner's desire... again. 'I need to shower.'

Jim sighed theatrically. 'Well,' he said, 'I suppose that's OK... after all, I could do with a shower myself.' He grinned mischievously, and leapt from the bed.

Spock returned the gesture, and followed Jim where he had made a dash for the bathroom. Things were OK, he realised. Better than OK. And they weren't going to change any time soon, at least not for the worse. He was more than ninety-four percent sure of that.

* * *

_Thanks for reading!_


	3. Birth

**Here it is, the actual baby being born chapter! This is Bones' first appearance into the story too, so I hope that goes down well. THANK YOU so much to everyone who has read, reviewed, favourited or followed the story so far, it really makes me smile (sad, I know!). I ****_still _****don't own Star Trek... what am I doing wrong?**

**- J.M.H. -**

* * *

With every passing second Dr Leonard McCoy was regretting his decision to deliver his best friend's baby even more. The room felt too full: Jim wouldn't stay still, and he seemed to take up the entirety of the small room that had been set aside for the baby's birth. Spock had made the decision not to be present at the birth itself, as it was not Vulcan custom. He had promised he would attend them immediately after the child's birth, and with this pledge made, Jim had given his blessing for Spock to carry on as normal.

'For God's sake Jim, sit down!'

Jim stopped pacing, and slumped into the chair by the side of the bed. He looked up at him, and dammit if in that moment Bones didn't feel bad. He looked at Jim's face, excited, anxious, and flushed pink all over. He looked younger than he had for a long time.

'Sorry,' he said. 'But you aren't helping.' He turned to the Vulcan woman lying on the bed. 'You're seven centimetres dilated. It shouldn't be long now.'

Bones had done huge amounts of research into Vulcan pregnancies and births, and was relieved to find them not dissimilar to Humans. When Jim and Spock had come to him and told him their plans he had been a little stunned, but quickly settled into a state of silent happiness for them, and, although he wouldn't admit it, he was more than a little touched when they had asked him to be involved. They had decided that Jim would be the child's biological father and that they would have a Vulcan surrogate, to maintain both of their cultures, and also that they wanted this to remain secret.

'People will treat us and the kid differently if they know who the biological father is.' Jim had argued.

'That's not true,' he had scoffed. 'I won't. Nyota and Scotty and the rest of us won't.'

'Maybe not. But you don't know. And other people will. And I don't want that. I don't care. I want people to see both of us as equal in making our kid who he or she will be.'

Bones had shrugged and promised to help.

'When are you going to tell the crew?' he asked.

'I don't know,' Jim gave a one-sided shrug. 'I thought I might leave that to Spock. They're less likely to overreact if he's the one breaking the news. Nobody argues with a Vulcan.'

'You sure got that right,' he nodded.

Now, months later, the Vulcan woman who lay on the crisply-made bed was the calmest of the three of them. She was deep in meditation, suppressing the pain that speared through her abdomen and back until it was almost nothing. She had her eyes closed, and was mouthing some sort of chant or song in Vulcan. Jim met Bones' eyes over her. He shrugged. This was the calmest labour he had ever been present for, he wasn't going to complain.

Surrogacy, it turned out, was not an uncommon Vulcan practice. The woman was a distant cousin of Spock's, from the same clan, and as yet unmarried. Spock had found her with the help of his father, who had been more supportive than Spock had dared to imagine.

'Alright,' Bones nodded. 'Ten centimetres. Time to push, Miss T'Aria.'

As he held the screaming new-born in his arms, Bones' initial feelings of dread and regret ebbed away in seconds. An immense sense of pride welled up in him as he towelled the baby down and wrapped it in a blanket, aware of the cold environment into which it had suddenly been thrust. The pride was somewhat unexpected; the child wasn't even really anything to do with him. He smiled and shook his head. He was proud to have been involved with this child's life right from the start, proud to later be able to say he had delivered someone he was sure would grow up to be incredible, and proud to have earned the privilege of loving this child. He passed the still screaming child to Jim, who sat expectantly, thanking and thanking the woman reclined next to him. He turned away from them and cleared his throat; the overwhelming emotion was a shock to him.

It had been in an almost trance-like state that Jim had picked up his communicator and called Spock, cradling the baby in the crook of his arm.

'Our baby,' he had said, not even trying to hold back his tears. 'Our baby's here, Spock.'

When the Vulcan arrived he was out of breath: wherever he had come from, he had run. Bones greeted him with the smallest of grins, and nodded towards where Jim sat on the edge of the bed, the baby cradled in his arms.

Spock took a step forward, and then he stopped. His eyes scanned the tear-streaked face of his partner, the crying bundle held so tenderly in his arms, and briefly towards T'Aria, who lay settled into the pillows behind her, gown creased, hair a mess, but with a quiet smile on her face. Spock knew how much that meant, considering she was Vulcan.

'Don't just stand there, Spock,' Bones prompted quietly.

Spock twitched as he suddenly seemed to really notice where he was. His boots rapped against the floor as he moved and sat down next to Jim. He leant over the baby, wrapped tightly in a blanket, fighting for the freedom of its arms already. It still cried, but more gently now, and as it began to settle wide, dark eyes revealed themselves. The baby yawned.

'Look at its ears Spock!' Jim laughed through his tears, and the baby stared at him. 'It's got your ears!'

The Captain spoke the truth. Spock reached forwards, and stroked the soft skin of the baby's ears, following all the way to where they tapered delicately off into the gentlest of points. Jim watched the face of his lover, and he saw the most sincere of smiles cross his lips, and the indisputable look of love that flooded his face from the flush rapidly drawing up over his cheeks to the shine in his eyes. In that moment he knew that Spock would love their child with every fibre of his being.

'Jim, you refer only the child as it,' Spock said, looking up. 'Surely, you must know the gender?'

Jim shook his head, and smiled as Spock wiped a tear from under his eye. 'Bones wrapped it up straight away, and I wanted to wait for you.'

Spock looked down at the bundle, and reached forward. He looked to Jim for approval as he took the corner of the blanket in his hand. Jim nodded, and Spock carefully pulled the layer of cloth away. He became suddenly aware of his smile as it widened even further, and he laughed, he really, truly _laughed _as Jim planted a firm kiss on his forehead, careful not to disturb their child.

Bones put a hand on Jim's shoulder from behind them. 'She's beautiful,' he said. 'Just beautiful.'

* * *

_Hope you're all happy with that! Next chapter she will be named, and then I think the chapters will become more episodic and easy to read out of order as I document Starfleet family life. ;)_


	4. Something with Fire

**Hello! The Spirk sprog is about to receive a name! This turned into quite a long chapter without me really wanting it to, so sorry about that. If you're in a rush, you might just want to scroll down the bottom, because the name's down there, but you'll miss a bit of a story I quite like. :) **

**The usual thanks for reviews, favourites and follows, they still make my day!**

**_Star Trek_ owns me.**

**J.M.H.**

* * *

'When can we see the wee thing then?' Scotty asked, pouring himself a second whiskey.

'Soon. We're still busy getting used to her ourselves.' Jim swirled the whiskey around. 'Anyway, I wouldn't have thought you were the kind of guy who liked babies.'

'Jim, I have nineteen nieces and nephews. If I did nae like kids I'd be screwed. What you gonna call the lass?'

'To be honest Scotty, we have absolutely no idea. I think Spock's been thinking about it. I heard him muttering different Vulcan names when I left this morning.'

'Vulcan names?' Scotty questioned.

Jim sighed. 'That's the thing. We haven't actually talked about names together. I think he's going to want to give her a Vulcan name. I don't know why I think it, I just have a feeling.'

'There's many a good name come from my land,' Scotty said, raising his tumbler of whiskey up a little, as if in honour of the highlands.

Jim snorted. 'Thanks Scotty,' he said, and clinked their glasses together.

'Oh, I mean it Jim. Real great names. Things with fire in them, things with spirit.' Scotty's eyes almost seemed to glaze over as he thought of his homeland. 'Scotland's a fine place. Great whiskey, good food, pretty wee lassies,' he cast a sideways glance at Jim, 'and lads.' He grinned. Jim tried to glare at him, but couldn't hold the expression, face breaking into a smile. 'I can't lie to you though, lad. Would it surprise you to know that maybe it wasn't just the ladies who got to me?'

Jim's eyes widened. 'Scotty!' he said incredulously. 'For real?'

The engineer winked, his inhibitions lowered by drink.

'Well that's a drink I owe Pavel,' Jim grinned. 'We need to keep much closer tags on that kid.' He stood up, 'Speaking of which, I have my own 'wee one' to get back to now,' he said, mocking Scotty's way of speech just a little.

'O' course Jim,' Scotty nodded sagely, proffering forward a tin of mints. Jim took one gratefully. He wasn't sure Spock would appreciate the smell of alcohol on his breath. 'And remember, you were never here.'

'Aye-aye, Mr Scott.' Jim gave a small salute, drained his drink, and left the underground distillery that definitely did not lye in the pit of Engineering. He thought back to his last few words to the engineer. He had a kid to get back to now. His kid. He was responsible for another life. He had created it, and now he would nurture it, true love by his side. _True love,_ he thought incredulously. _You're going soft. Softer than a freaking marshmallow. _All the same, the thoughts were nice ones, and they made little butterflies lurch in his stomach when he thought about what was to come.

He punched the code into the keypad outside their quarters, and smiled as the doors slid apart, and he saw Spock, bare-chested, tunic and undershirt removed and folded on the arm of the couch, with their baby cradled to him. They were both asleep. Jim had dealt well with the newborn's needs; his years of insomnia acting as training for the customary lack of sleep a baby brought. Spock, however, was not holding up so well. True, Vulcans could survive much longer on much less rest than the average human, but it was the disruption of routine that got to Spock, and left him so lethargic the last few days.

Jim sat down next to them, picking up the PADD Spock had next to him. Spock had made it into their baby-log, and was documenting the little girl's sleeping hours, feeds, changes, and anything else he considered significant. So far, this was the observation that she was prone to sneeze twice immediately after each feed. A call down to the medical bay had reassured Spock that this was normal, and simply the baby's way of clearing her respiratory passages. A check of the log showed she was due another feed. Jim kicked his boots off, leaving them where they lay in contrast to Spock's neatly folded clothing, and moved across to fix her a bottle for when she woke up.

As if on cue, the baby began to grumble just as Jim tightened the bottle's top. She waved her arms frantically, still not quite aware of how they worked, and woke Spock. He looked down and whispered to her, trying to calm her down, and greeted Jim with a small smile.

'How are you?' Jim asked, throwing himself heavily back down on the couch and passing Spock the bottle. He raised it to the baby's lips, and she took it immediately, sucking hungrily.

'Adequate. Somewhat better now that you're here.'

Kirk planted a kiss on Spock's temple, and held out a finger for the baby to grab. She clamped her fingers around the digit, and he smiled. 'Glad to hear it. Sorry I'm late. I thought you'd be able to cope, and I got held up reprimanding some stupid ensigns who had been fighting in Engineering. Ended up having a chat with Scotty.'

'We were fine,' Spock said, 'weren't we Baby?'

'Really Spock? Gotta be honest, I didn't expect you to be talking to the kid when she can't even understand it. Seems kinda frivolous for a Vulcan.'

'Actually, Jim, there is research to suggest the more a child is spoken to at a very young age, the more acquainted it becomes with both the language around it and its parents' voices.'

'Hmm,' Jim nodded. 'Interesting.' He sighed inwardly. He would have to bring it up sooner or later. Now was just as good as later. Why was he always the one who had to start these things?! 'There's another thing. We can't just keep calling her Baby. Now, I know you want a Vulcan name, but-'

'Jim,' the Vulcan interrupted, 'I have no such intentions. What gave you that impression?'

Jim stopped and looked at him. 'Are you sure?' he asked. 'Because I know I heard you speaking Vulcan to her before I left this morning. I thought you were trying out different names on her.'

'I was speaking Vulcan,' Spock admitted, 'but only because I would like her to grow up with the language. Whilst I am keen to bring a child up in this environment, especially with you, I would not like her to lose the other side of her heritage.'

Jim sat back and thought for several moments. 'I'm sorry,' he said eventually. 'I hadn't thought about it like that.'

'It is of no real consequence,' Spock brushed the issue away with little feeling. 'But I do agree with original statement that she does need a name, and, considering her primary environment and one half of her parentage, it is perhaps best that this name is Terran.'

Jim thought. Sure, that _had_ been what he wanted to say. That_ had_ been what he wanted. Now though...

'Why not give her both? A Terran and a Vulcan name?' he said. Spock looked at him, tilting his head to one side a little. 'Loads of humans have middle names. Give her a normal first name,' he winced. 'Sorry. A _Terran_ first name and a Vulcan middle name. That way when she's here she can be called something more human, and then, when she's with Vulcans or visiting your father or anything, she can use her Vulcan name.'

Spock seemed to consider this as he tipped the bottle up, allowing the baby access to the last of the milk.

'Yes,' he said, 'I think that would be suitable.'

'How do you name a Vulcan?' Jim asked.

'It is different for individual clans,' Spock explained. 'In my clan, it was the meaning of the name that was significant, rather than the name itself. For example, T'Aria was named to mean 'lady of resolute life'. That was part of the reason my father suggested her as a surrogate. Her line consists of fertile women and healthy babies.'

'Oh, OK,' Jim nodded. 'Hey, what does your name mean?'

'It was more a choice of my mother than my father. It means 'resembling half of each other's heart and soul'.'

'Aw, Spock that's beautiful!' Jim said, with meaning. 'Let's name her like that, please!'

'Also,' Spock continued, apparently ignoring Jim as he placed the bottle on the coffee table and winded the baby, 'each name has a true Vulcan form as well as its federation standard spelling and pronunciation, varying in complication. In its true form, my name would be pronounced as _spo'k'hat'n'dlawa_.'

The baby sneezed twice, as usual, and Jim's jaw dropped just a little. He wasn't even going to try to copy the wave of Vulcan consonants that had washed forth. He reached out, and took the baby from Spock. 'OK,' he said uncertainly, drawing out each syllable. 'So... any names you like that spring to mind for this one?'

'Actually, my mind had wandered towards a relatively common and pronounceable name,' Spock said, replacing his shirts now the baby was with Jim. He had been reading about the importance of skin-to-skin contact when bonding.

'Let's hear it.'

'It is T'Pren, the meaning of which is 'lady little dream'. It can be given as a symbol that the child is a thing of wonderment, i.e. a 'dream come true' for the parents, as I believe you would put it, or that the child itself may be one who dreams or thinks deeply. Do you have any opinions?'

'Spock, it's,' Jim searched for the right word, 'it's _gorgeous_! What's its full fancy Vulcan thing?'

'If you are referring to its Golic Vulcan form, then it is _t'sai pi'run_. The _t'sai _prefix simply means lady, and it creates the _T' _prefix when translated to federation English. It can be used or dropped mostly at will, as it is really only used to denote the sex of the individual. Vulcan names are for the most part androgynous.'

Jim nodded. 'OK. I could get that. Say it again.'

Spock repeated the name, and allowed Jim to mangle its pronunciation several times.

'I like this whole name meaning thing,' Jim said, once he grew bored of butchering the ancient language. 'What do you know about Terran name meanings?'

'The etymology of names was a passing interest of my mother's; she taught me a relatively high level of specification on the subject.'

'Oh,' Jim said, thinking. 'What does my name mean?'

'Supplanter,' Spock informed him, without missing a beat.

'That's not a good thing, is it?'

'Not entirely,' Spock conceded.

Jim shrugged. 'Never mind. I want to name her something with a meaning though. Something really good. Something with passion.' His earlier conversation with Scotty returned to him. 'Something with _fire_!'

'There are names with such meanings,' Spock supplied. 'If you are serious about a name with fire, the name Edna means directly that.'

'_Edna_?' Jim stared at the baby in his arms. 'Spock, that's the sort of name my great-great-great-grandmother would have had!'

Spock shrugged. 'A more contemporary choice is the name Seraphina, which rose to prominence around the middle of the twenty-first century, and has its origins within the Christian church, and the mighty Seraphim angels.'

Spock continued to talk, but Jim had ceased listening. He was whispering.

'Seraphina,' he looked down at the baby, who had most of her fist in her mouth, and was drooling. He looked around, and pulled a cloth off the coffee table, wiping her chin dry. He traced a finger around the smooth curve of her face. 'Seraphina.' He repeated the name several times as Spock continued his lecture.

'I like it!' he said eventually.

Spock stopped talking, and looked at him. 'I sense your concentration dissipated some moments ago.'

'Sorry,' Jim said, without any real meaning. 'Seraphina. It's perfect. Look at her Spock; tell me she's not supposed to be called Seraphina. Seraphina T'Pren.'

'And for federation purposes I would consider it appropriate to give her the last name Kirk.'

Jim nodded. 'Except on Vulcan. Then you can call her... whatever you call each other.' He grinned sheepishly, realising exactly how little he knew about the customs of his husband's planet.

'Indeed. Her name shall need to be registered. I conversed with Doctor McCoy; he informed me that Nurse Chapel is the appropriate personnel member to register the names of children born on board the Enterprise. Shall I call down to the medical bay?'

'No,' Jim said, shaking his head, 'I'll go down. I want to tell Bones anyway.'

Spock took the baby back, and watched Jim's hurry to pull his boots back on.

'Your excitement is irrational, Jim,' he said.

'I know,' Jim nodded. 'And I don't care.'

Spock watched his husband dart out of their quarters.

'Seraphina,' he whispered. The little girl yawned. 'Seraphina T'Pren Kirk.'

He looked up suddenly as the doors reopened, and Jim's head appeared again. He could not have made it down to Medical so quickly.

'Also,' Jim panted, 'did you know Scotty's bi?'

And with that, he disappeared again.

* * *

_Hope it was nice! _


End file.
